'Work in Progress' season finale promo sees Susan offer Abby full-time position as countdown ends in ‘3, 2, 1’
In episode 7 of ‘Work in Progress’, Showtime's queer-centric dramedy series, we saw Abby (Abby McEnany) struggle with the prospect of telling her boyfriend Chris (Theo Germaine) about how she broke his one rule. She had chanced upon his deadname in the previous episode, and Chris, a transman, has expressly forbidden her to ever ask him about it.
A deadname is the name that a transgender person was given at birth and no longer uses upon transitioning. Much like proper pronouns, a deadname (or the distancing from it) is a very important part of non-binary identity.
Abby, at an arts festival she was attending with Chris, finally blurts out what she had done. A thoroughly angry and sad Chris shouted at her and left. At the end of the episode we saw Abby, in her sadness, text her ex Malanie (Echaka Agba), asking her if she wanted to talk.
Melanie and Abby were in a relationship for years, even living together before it split at the seams because the former could not deal with Abby’s depression and anxieties. Will this moment of weakness on Abby’s part turn into a big mistake?
Episode 8's title, ‘3, 2, 1’, signifies the last three almonds from the batch of 180 at the beginning of the show. Abby counted each almond as one day, and at the end of 180, she would decide if her life was still worth living. Even with ups and downs, most of the 180 days have been good for Abby. In the happy company of her family, friends, and Chris, she managed to keep her anxieties at bay. But with this deadname fiasco, one has to wonder if at the end of the 180 days Abby will find it in her to continue?
As per Showtime’s official synopsis for the season finale, “The final almonds. When Abby motivates herself to get out of the apartment for Julia’s ‘This American Life’ show, she’s met with two unwanted surprises."
In episode 7, Julia Sweeney, whose androgynous ‘SNL’ character Pat had caused Abby a lot of trauma in the past, invited Abby to be part of NPR’s weekly public radio program and podcast ‘The American Life’. Julia wanted Abby and her to discuss Pat and how it had unintentionally caused a lot of hurt.
In the episode’s promo, Abby and her annoying colleague Susan (Mary Sohn) have a surprisingly serious conversation about where she's heading at work. Abby usually avoids Susan like the plague, but in episode 7, she succumbed to her invitation to have coffee together.
Not the most sensitive tool in the shed at most times, Susan shows odd amounts of care and compassion for Abby as she tells her that she would create a full-time position for Abby at the firm where she had been working as a temp. She says, “Abby, I don’t want to lose you. Just keep sensing that you’re one foot out the door.”
Abby, who is lost for words, is saved the trouble of responding in any meaningful way because of a call from her best friend Campbell (Celeste Pechous). With the Chris drama and her 180 days coming to an end, this tiny gesture from Susan may just be what saves Abby.
‘Work In Progress’ airs every Sunday at 11 p.m./10 c only on Showtime.
